My guy and I have only been together for ~6 months but it's already the best relationship I've ever had! We met online but then discovered we had a bunch of mutual friends and in fact, we work for the same institution doing similar jobs, just at different locations. We have been on uncannily similar life paths independently of each other. He is into sailing and recently said to me that he has been on a heading of 1 degree and I have been on a heading of 359 degrees and we finally ran into each other.

I wouldn't say that it was instant. We actually took a little while to get going. Part of that was because I had actually dated a very good friend of his for a little while (also met him online) - we figured that out very quickly and were upfront and honest about it, but I decided to leave it all up to him in case he was weirded out about it. So it took us a while to meet in person, partly because we live in different cities and partly because I think he was just trying to process that.

But we got over that and honestly, he is the first man I've been with where I can say that I want to marry him. He's just awesome and our relationship is great - no drama or insecurities, just honesty and good communication and love and FUN. And we have so much in common and enjoy spending our time in similar ways (working out, socializing, cooking) so we spend a lot of time doing those things together.

I had two one-month-long trips planned that happened only a couple months after we started dating. Before the first trip, he initiated The Conversation to make sure we were "on the same page" before my trip. Then he picked me up from the airport when I got home. That weekend, he told me he was "madly in love" with me. Then he asked me to go to Chicago with him for Thanksgiving and meet his family. Then he took me to the airport for my second trip!

It's funny because physically, he's not the usual 'type' that I am attracted to. For starters, he's only an inch or two taller than me and I usually like tall men. But in one of many revelations, I've discovered all of that stuff doesn't matter - I find him extremely attractive now!

This relationship has made me realize how imperfect some of my other previous relationships have been. In one, I was a 'mother' to a semi-slacker (and hated it); in another, I had to work for every scrap of attention. It's been amazing to experience a participatory, equal, loving, positive, functional relationship!